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Jeff Tjornehoj talks about the stunning year Treasuries had, the exceptional volatility loan funds encountered, and the headwinds facings emerging markets. In his outlook he says we can expect more of the same in the quarter ahead.

Cautious investors were bombarded with mixed news ranging from continued Eurozone weakness, new cases of Ebola in the U.S., and a massive slump in oil prices. However, better-than-expected U.S. economic news and fresh global central bank interventions during fourth quarter 2014 pushed equity funds to their third consecutive year of plus-side performance. Tom highlights investment trends for equity funds during Q4 and the year and provides his outlook for next quarter in this WebEx replay of Lipper's Fourth Quarter 2014 Fund Performance Review and Outlook.

Bond markets continued to build off Q1 2014's fast start. Bond fund groups of all stripes did well, ranging from the Inflation-Protected Bond Funds' 3.18% climb and a solid 2.12% return from high yield funds; municipal debt funds (+2.37%) had a fantastic quarter also. Jeff Tjornehoj also talks about issues on the horizon for loan funds as well as his third quarter outlook.

After the spectacular run-up in 2013, investors cautiously continued to bid up the market in first quarter 2014. Tom Roseen highlights Q1 equity fund performance trends and provides his outlook for next quarter in this WebEx replay of Lipper's First Quarter 2014 Equity Fund Performance Review and Outlook.

Investors turned their backs on high grade and high duration bonds in favor of junk and short duration as the prospect of higher interest rates sent them for cover. Jeff Tjornehoj details the good, the bad, and the ugly performers in this quarter's review of bond funds.

Despite many uncertainties during the year, investors kept the equity rally rolling. Domestic equity funds (up 32.30% for the year) easily beat their world equity fund (gaining 16.82%) counterparts. Tom highlights investment trends for equity funds during Q4 and the year and provides his outlook for next quarter in this WebEx replay of Lipper's Fourth Quarter 2013 Fund Performance Review and Outlook.

Equity funds finished September up 4.65% (for their ninth best September performance in 50 years) and helped push equity funds' Q3 return to 7.32%, producing a fifth straight quarter of plus-side performance.Tom highlights investment trends for equity funds during Q3 2013 and provides his outlook for next quarter in this WebEx replay of Lipper's Third Quarter 2013 Fund Performance Review and Outlook.

With U.S. equity markets last Friday closing down for four of the last five weeks, it was clear that investors continued to be spooked by the thought of “tapering” by the Federal Reserve. The hope that Chairman Bernanke’s recent press conference would calm nerves fell flat as the S&P 500 experienced this past week its largest two-day drop since last November. The concern seemed that it would be short lived, since on Monday the Dow was able to rebound nearly 473 points from its mid-day low. This was driven by upbeat economic news as well as tamer reiterations from the Fed that any pullback of quantitative easing would be based on the economic outlook, which may not be as great as it had previously suggested. Unfortunately, this late rally in stocks did not deter investors from pulling back some of their fund exposure.

Reinforced commitment from the Fed and better-than-expected nonfarm payroll numbers helped convince investors to continue pushing up the U.S. equity markets. New tops for domestic stock indices and limited opportunities for yield from bonds fed demand for riskier assets. While many analysts advised caution, it proved too hard not to participate, and investors injected roughly $16.6 billion net into mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) (excluding money market funds) for the week ended May 8.

Worries over the short-term health of the Eurozone brought on by the Cyprus banking crisis briefly sent investors back to Treasuries, and the sudden 21-basis-point hike in the ten-year note (to 2.07%) at the start of March was erased over the rest of the month. Although General US Treasury Funds lost 0.80% on the quarter, most of that loss was felt in January (-1.71%) when equities surged and "The Great Rotation" was supposedly afoot. Meanwhile, corporate bond investors sent Lipper's High Yield Funds classification near the top of the performance table as investors pursued more "risk-on" strategies in U.S. bonds throughout the quarter and sent that group up 2.74%.

Investors generally shrugged off the Cyprus banking crisis, Italy's inability to form a new coalition government, and U.S. sequestration during the first quarter of 2013, focusing instead on upbeat economic news and continued support by the Fed, pushing a few of the major indices to all-time highs. For the quarter, equity mutual funds posted their second best Q1 performance since 1998. Tom highlights investment trends for equity funds during Q1 2013 and provides his outlook for next quarter in this WebEx replay of Lipper's First Quarter 2013 Fund Performance Review and Outlook.

During the past week many investors tried to decipher the possible effects of a Cypriot exit from the Eurozone and the knock-on consequences of a bailout structured on the shoulders of savers. Although an agreement for a European Central Bank-led bailout was reached over the weekend, the initial rally in the markets on Monday was short lived as analysts still wondered what the bank restructuring would mean for other European countries. Despite the concerns, U.S. indices trended upward for most of the week as investors focused on strong home price and manufacturing numbers, a momentum that would push both the Dow and the S&P 500 to close out March at record highs. Fund investors also did not seem rattled by any new Eurozone risks; mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), excluding money market funds, recorded net inflows of $4.5 billion.

Investors continued to show optimism in the global equity markets as better than expected export news out of China and continued weakness in the Japanese yen boosted Asian indices. With a strong Q4 earnings season kickoff at home, the U.S. markets joined suit; the S&P 500 index added just over three-quarters of a percentage point for the week ending Wednesday, January 16. Combine the 3%-plus returns we have seen so far this year with the previous week’s large equity fund flows, and one would expect the perfect recipe for continued buying.

In this WebEx replay, Tom Roseen discusses the trends and events that shaped equity fund returns in Q4 and 2012. Despite the persistent market pessimism and the best efforts by our elected officials to derail the economy, fund investors benefitted in 2012 by generally going against the grain and trusting (selectively) in equity funds. For the year the average equity fund returned a robust 14.51%.

Jeff Tjornehoj reviews the third quarter performance of fixed income funds. Statements by central bankers Draghi and Bernanke shook up bond markets and focused investors’ attention back on monetary policies and their positive effect on risky assets. Because the dollar fell over the quarter, ex-US fund strategies outperformed and with risk assets back in the driver’s seat lower-quality credits also led the performance charts at the expense of Treasuries and short-duration types.

Tom Roseen highlights Q3 equity fund trends in this WebEx presentation. Despite the proverbial cloud hovering over the global market during the quarter, investors found a reason to cheer: central bank intervention. The on-again, off-again story surrounding Greece, Italy, and Spain from Q2 appeared to play into equity participants’ plans. Investors throughout the third quarter bet that global central bankers would do whatever it took to keep their individual economies on track. Quarterly equity fund performance was unexpectedly strong, with the average equity fund gaining 5.72%, erasing all of Q2’s loss (-5.19%).

With the dog days of summer upon us many investors focused their attention away from the anemic markets and towards the potential fallout of both hurricane Isaac and the Republican National Convention. But despite this there was some optimistic data released on the current state of the economy. July GDP was revised upwards to 1.7%, home prices continued to strengthen, and consumer spending increased for the first time in three months. Combined with relatively quite news overseas and anticipated action from the Fed, investors injected $5.8 billion into mutual funds and ETFs—excluding money markets.

Overall, equity markets faired quite well this week as news over previous concerns in the Eurozone was quite muted and earnings were generally good among the tech giants and most U.S. banks. Investors took this in stride as U.S. markets ended the week up and investors injected roughly $6.1 billion into equity products. Although a large number, most of the inflows were once again attributed to SPDR S&P 500 Index ETF (SPY) which added 2.2 billion to its coffers. Taxable bond funds continue to garner assets as the group added $2.8 billion for the week. Although Corp-High Yield posted inflows of $821 million, most investors remained comfortable allocating cash to higher quality paper with Corp-Investment Grade products reporting net inflows of $1.1 billion. Municipal debt funds also posted net inflows at $837 million while money market accounts gave back $18.7 billion of their previous weeks inflows.

Jeff Tjornehoj reviews the second quarter performance of fixed income funds. In a quarter marked by "risk-off" activity, Treasury-related fund types did particularly well and were followed by a successful showing by muni debt funds, investment grade corporate types, agency debt strategies, and high yield. Bringing up the rear, overseas fixed income strategies lagged after the U.S. dollar posted a strong rebound against the euro.

Despite the ever increasing concern over global economic conditions, investors closed the quarter out strongly with all major U.S. equity indices ending June with monthly returns well over 3.5%. Overall, mutual funds and ETFs reported net inflows of $3.2 billion for the week with Equity products garnering an impressive $10.3 billion—their largest weekly gain since September 14, 2011. Unfortunately this action did not seem to be a broad indicator of market sentiment as roughly $7.0 billion was solely attributed to what seems to be large institutional moves into the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY). Taxable Bond funds ended the period with net outflows of just $100 million. Although fixed income mutual funds (+$1.3 billion) continued to keep investors attention, their ETF counterparts suffered net redemptions of $1.4 billion with investors moving out of shorter term treasury products—a possible side effect of both the continuation of Operation Twist as well as initial reports of positive moves toward new policies in the Eurozone. Municipal Bond funds posted their twelfth consecutive week of inflows at $317 million while Money Market products pushed $7.4 billion out their doors.

Carsten Lootze, Community Editor -- Trading Structured Products, Thomson Reuters and Detlef Glow, Head of EMEA Reseach, Lipper are discussing the developments in the European ETF industry during the first five month of 2012

Despite headlines trumpeting the return of equities, fixed income fund held their ground in Q1 and produced solid returns. Jeff Tjornehoj breaks down where the action was at and looks for conditions to improve for fixed income in the quarters ahead.

This quarter Jeff Tjornehoj discusses how the "risk-on" shift by bond investors sent High Yield Funds and Loan Participation Funds to the top of the performance tables in Q4. But lest we forget, 2011 was the one for record books for Treasuries and fortunes varied considerably among Lipper's many bond fund categories.